Emmanuel Eboue says Arsenal haven't skipped a beat after selling Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City. "With football you can't play in the same team all your life," Eboue told arsenal.com. "For me, I am very disappointed because they are my friends and they're gone but that's football.

The 26-year-old is now hoping Arsenal can push on with the wealth of talent the squad still boasts.

"We have Eduardo, Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott, so I think we will try our best to do well with these players.

"Thomas Vermaelen is a very, very good defender. He is very, very strong and I think him and William Gallas have a good partnership."